Friday, July 29, 2011

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama

If you have a moment you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments. Wishing you and yours a lovely weekend!

Monday, July 25, 2011

On a gorgeous and thankfully sunny and summery evening last Saturday night, I hauled my two suitcases full of stitched up goodies and set up a mini-shop on 3 feet of table space at the Blim Night Market in one of Vancouver's alleyways. The market was part of an event put on by Livable Laneways which in their own words is a "non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the overlooked laneways and alleys of Vancouver into pedestrn-friendly zones."

I shared a table with my friend Joanne who bakes amazing nostalgia-inspired goodies such as ding-dongs and old-fashioned cinnamon-sugar doughnuts! Yum!

When we first entered the lane (alley) to set up, there was a pretty bad stench of pee. Yup. Gross. But of course somewhat expected in big city alleyways such as this. Luckily, our table neighbour was a lovely woman who makes the most amazing smelling natural soaps so the whole night I was breathing in nothing but lavender, rosemary and peppermint. Heavenly!

And here's Stanley the Worm. I had him at the market for a giveaway as he's quite the attention grabber (very debonair with his bow-tie!) So he's off to his new owner soon but I think I'll be doing another giveaway on my blog soon so stay tuned...

So overall, I felt pretty good about my first market. I have to admit that it probably wasn't totally my target audience (note to self: back alley night markets don't yield high family foot traffic), but it was fun to get to hang out with other 'makers' and 'crafters' and it was really great to see how people reacted to my creations (another note to self: people love little skirts and well-dressed animals). So overall, I'll mark this down as a success!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

All week I've been sewing like a mad-woman. Why? To stock up for my very first craft market! Yay! Hooray! (followed by a little shiver..) I'm completely excited but also very nervous about this since I don't really know what to expect as a seller. I love love LOVE going to craft markets and overall, it's generally a good vibe, you know, like friendly, laid-back.. everyone is just doing their thing... So instead of worrying myself into a frenzy, I'm going to:

1) not think about being judged as a crafter/maker

2) not think about all the stuff I SHOULD have made but didn't have time to
3) not think about the possibility that it might rain downpour (which is very likely considering the 'summer' we've had so far)
4) ask all you lovely folks if you have any advice for a newbie market seller

Are any of you market veterans? Any tips? Advice? Words of wisdom? I'd love to hear it!

And of course, if any of you are in the GVRD, I'll be setting up my little table of goodies at the Blim Community Night Market on Saturday, July 23 from 5-9pm. Please come say hello!

Friday, July 15, 2011

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama

If you have a moment you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments. Wishing you and yours a lovely weekend!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

We made it out to the Thornton Park farmer's market today BEFORE the rain hit this time (ahhh, gotta love these West coast summers...) Lil' C and I stocked up on beautiful cabbage, beets, yellow beans, tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries, apple chips, and these awesome colourful carrots! (please ignore the pile of dishes in the sink. I tidied those up right after I took this photo. Honest!) Then I proceeded to cook a lovely supper of farm fresh veggies and organic chicken which, by the way, MY KIDS ACTUALLY ATE (after slathering it in ketchup..)! Yay! We are making some progress on the food front. By the way, after writing that post, I read this book to my kiddos and it made me smile! Feeling pretty lucky that I only have two silly eaters and not seven :)

Thursday, July 7, 2011

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama

If you have a moment you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments. Wishing you and yours a lovely weekend!

Today is my sweet boy's 4th birthday and out of everything I could have made him (as I like to have at least one handmade item as a gift), he chose this little worm from the Wee Wonderfuls book by Hillary Lang. I'm not normally a 'worm' person, but look at it's friendly little smile. C named it Lowly. He's actually a bookworm so he likes to hang out inside, but today we popped outside just before the rainstorm hit to get some fresh air and nibble on a juicy green leaf. C made me take off the head scarf so he looks like a little old bald worm now (not that worms are supposed to have hair..) I think I'll make him a bow tie as he seems a little naked without the scarf..

I had also just finished a very belated birthday gift for my 6 year old nephew. A while back I had made a super hero cape for C. He loved it and I was pretty pleased with it too except for the neck band. I used a satin crepe fabric and wanted it to be double sided so he could pretend to be either Superman or Batman, but the cape ended up being a bit too heavy and since I changed the pattern slightly (it was originally supposed to attach at the shoulders of a full super hero suit), the velcro neckband was kind of 'chokey' and uncomfortable. C still wears it but not for a very long time.

Sooo, I was supposed to make a cape for my nephew but couldn't figure out how to do the neck. My mom had suggested making a real collar for the cape instead of just a strap (she got this idea from seeing one in a movie). I got thinking...

Since I had a few shirt collars kicking around from my UPcycled dresses, I decided to use one of those instead of making a whole new one.

I thought it looked a little 'off' at first, but now I really like it! It's kind of like Bruce Wayne on one side, and Batman on the other. (or Clark Kent and Superman - you get the picture..) Well, it was way more comfortable and C didn't seem to find it uncomfortable at all when he modeled it for me. The only tricky thing is that it's a button closure, so definitely for the older kids only. So, there you go B. I hope you like it!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

I'm having one of 'those' days where my patience is quickly running out. Seriously. Tantrums galore! Bickering, attitude, throwing stuff (like plates of mac & cheese).. We are full on into the terrible twos AND the terrible (almost) fours. No one tells you about any terribleness after the twos... I was a bit late in the game for registering for summer programs and camps and so even though we are getting outside and running around every day, I think they might be getting a little stir crazy spending most of our time in and around our house. I will definitely have to start planning out my days and weeks with activities to keep us all sane. Breathe in rainbows, breathe out stress..

So, since I'm feeling a bit scatterbrained right now, I thought I would share some random things that ARE making me happy right now:

-SUMMER HAD ARRIVED!

-we made it out to the Kitsilano beach on the weekend and dug huge holes in the sand while some guy played guitar and sang Neil Young behind us. LOVE that sort of thing :)

-the postal strike is over and all my poor little packages that were being held hostage are coming home to me!

-have you heard of (or possibly already follow) the blog oh, hello friend? (yes I know, similar name, but it wasn't my intention to 'copy' her blog name. I do have a very good reason for choosing my name which I might share sometime down the road). Anyway, it's a really sweet blog which is usually full of lovely, happy things. And, she is now doing something called Good Cheer Deals which is sort of like a group buying thing. (Ok, this is becoming a long random thought..) Well, there have been some really good shops and goodies featured on Good Cheer Deals like this. I've been coveting these super cool totes for a while now and haven't yet ordered one, but I am sooooo tempted...

-my friend Jenn (who crochets like a mad woman and I've mentioned her before over here) is having a giveaway over on her blog. Go on over check out her crocheted milkshake and burger set. I definitely say 'cheers!' to free stuff and to 'healthy' fast food!

(by the way, you may have noticed the orange mac & cheese on the floor in the above picture. I know I don't have to justify the 'boxed orange food item' but I'm going to. My son at age 2 1/2 decided that this said 'boxed orange food item' was the GOOD macaroni and cheese, and deemed my healthy homemade kind the BAD macaroni and cheese. After altering my recipe and trying to convince him that mine was actually pretty good, I finally gave up and gave in. He is also currently eating a bowl of dry Cheerios for supper because he's disgusted in my yummy homemade lasagna. Sigh.)

(also, I really have been sewing and crafting lately although I don't have too much to show you right now. I will hopefully get some crafty stuff up on this blog again soon as well as a formal introduction to the little critters that have been poking around..)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Friday, July 1, 2011

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama

If you have a moment you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments. Have a lovely weekend!